The Portuguese national broadcaster, RTP, will decide on 17 of the composers. However, there will be 3 slots open. These will be selected by the following people:

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest winner Salvador Sobral

The winner of a competition held by Portuguese radio station Antenna 1

An Open Call for submissions. RTP will select the jury deciding the open call winner.

Voting System

As before, Festival da Canção will have a 50/50 voting system in the semi final. This will be a combination of a single jury and the televote to determine which of the semi finalists will progress to the finals. In the grand final, it will be a televote with a combination of 7 regional juries. Should a tiebreaker situation occur, the act with the most televotes will fly the Portuguese flag on home soil.